At just under 3 lb, the BOSS Katana-Mini is a portable combo amplifier for electric guitars which aims to provide a large tone in a compact, portable enclosure. The amplifier provides three tonal characters—Brown, Crunch, and Clean. Brown is a sound modelled on Boss’s Waza line of amplifiers, delivering high-gain tones and much in the way of harmonics. Crunch gives you an overdrive suitable for rock and blues, while clean offers pristine tones and a hefty dynamic response.

The amp’s traditional three-band tone stack allow you to tweak your timbre in a familiar, and aurally pleasing, manner. Driving 7W through its 1x4” speaker, the Katana-Mini utilizes a multi-stage analog gain circuit, and also provides a tape-style delay with controls for time and level. Both discrete repeats and a more blurry, reverb-like ambiance is attainable in this effects section.

In the rear of the amplifier, you’ll find a 3.5mm auxiliary input for jamming along to music from smartphones or other apposite devices, and you’ll also come across a 3.5mm headphone jack useful for silent practicing and recording without a mic to a mixer or recording interface. This output sports a cabinet voicing to emulate the sound of miking a speaker on stage. You’ll also find the battery panel, wherein you can power the amp with 6 AA batteries for up to nine hours at a clip. A power adapter is available separately.